Anyway here is the list I thought many readers would find useful weather they are involved in the stitch along or not as they are all very useful books

Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont is online as part of Project Gutenburg. You can download the whole book from the site for free it is an excellent resource

Handbook of Embroidery by L. Higgin contains standard stitches but also information on goldwork and quite a good section on couching and diaper patterns.

Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving by Grace Christie covers all key areas of Embroidery. It is a classic but also one of the most clearest illustrated stitch books of its time. Don't miss this one as it is very useful.

Art in Needlework by Lewis F Day and Mary Buckle is a 326 page book published in 1907. This book is free to download from the Internet Archive site. You can download it in PDF format

A Book of Fancy Designs for Ornamenting Oriental Work. (PDF file) by Mary Haehnlen is a small book that should not be missed by crazy quilters as it contains diagrams of 65 crazy quilting stitches. This free ebook comes the Antique pattern Library.

The Cult of the Needle by Flora Klickmann is a hidden gem I discovered at the Internet archive. It is a 134 pages of styles and types of embroidery including drawn work, hardanger, Berlin work, and Huck darning

Ladies' Guide in Needlework published by W. A. Leary & Co. in 1850. The 193 pages of this book have been divided into 3 PDF files which can be downloaded from the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics (the download is found half way down this page)

Beeton's Book of Needlework is also on the Project Gutenburg site and can be downloaded free. There is a section on embroidery and a section on "Berlin" work which covers many canvas work stitches

The Lady's Manual of Fancy-Work by Matilda Pullan published in 1859 is also available at the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics. It contains a mix of needlework arts including beading, Berlin work (canvas stitches)

Many of these free resources are presented as PDF files which means you need Acrobat Reader to open these files. You can download a free reader on the Acrobat site.

There are facsimile copies of the Craftsman magazine edited by Gustav Stickley hosted at the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture at the University of Wisconsin. These are fantastic historical resources if you are interested in design history and philosophy. Do put some time aside to browse as these magazines published between 1901 and 1916 as they cover arts and crafts, gardening and landscaping and give a wonderful insight into craft philosophy of the era.

Thanks for the link goes to Meggiecat

Waving to everyone in very excited manner this morning! For l those with very sharp eyes. Last night a little bit of text appeared in my side bar which reads "Visit stitchin fingers a new community site for stitchers." Well for anyone who noticed great work!

I have finally got around to doing something I have meant to do for ages and that is create a stitchin/textile community site over on Ning.

For a long time I felt that the community needs a hub that can act a depot to spread news of events etc. Ning is a social software site that helps people build communities. I think may provide the service the textile folks need. Ning looks to be good place to make announcements, share news and photos hang out online etc.

I have called the network Stitchin Fingers So far I have put a forum on there, and since Ning has an RSS feed so you can subscribe and new activity will appear in your reader. It is an ideal place to act as a hub for all sorts of news and activities that the whole community can make use of. So all are welcome to use it and be as active as you choose on the site.

It is free and looks like members can have up to 100 photos. Members can load their own photos, create albums, share them etc. This feature alone would have made it ideal for any of the challenges I have run. It means people who don't have to have a blog can join in on activities and for those that do have blogs they tell us about them there! But its more than simply that. As I say its a community site - or I see it as that and I will keeping pure self promotion at bay . People can use it to spread the word about textile related events but I don't see it as an avenue for business to peddle their wares.

Last night I spent far too long trying to decide on a theme and I will organise some sort of image in the banner. I don't want to spend an age designing something only to find not one is interested. Basically I will polish it the more people join and use it.

Since its free you have nothing to lose head over to Stitchin Fingers, sign up, join and leave a hello message and we can see what develops from there. Bloggers and those on lists please help spread the word because it will not work if people don't know about it. This is a community site so lets hope it builds!

I have described it as "The group is open to all who are interested in textiles both contemporary and historical. Since many textile practices cross or inform each other all areas are welcome "
Actually I will reshape the description when figure out how to describe the group as I am sure it will shape itself!

If you are not sure what a Ning site is take a look at the fiberarts mixed media group as you can see it is for anyone who is interested in contemporary fiber arts and its a good example of what a group site can look like

This is what prompted me to finally get this network site going as Tricia of Lets Create contacted me as she is establishing a group for people who are interested in challenges. Go and check out her blog here This is the sort of news that is ideal to spread on the Stitchin Fingers site.

On another note I thought I would bring this link to Designer Bookbinders to the top as kimsarahtillyer left a comment point me to it. Designer Bookbinders was founded over fifty years ago and is a society devoted to the craft of fine bookbinding. There is some delicious eye candy in their gallery so do go and gobble some up (after you have checked out Stitchin Fingers that is)

Today I want to highlight a few recent additions to the site as recently 8 issues of the the Home Needlework Magazine form 1914 and 1915 have been published on the site. These magazines have a dated charm that delights us one hand and yet many of the designs in them are very modern and can be easily adapted to a contemporary piece.

For instance look at these two designs I found in the Home Needlework Magazine March 1915.

For readers who are interested in historical or vintage knitting, crochet, tatting and lace patterns you will discover plenty between the covers of this magazine.

They are well worth downloading these PDF files and browsing during a quiet moment.

The description on You Tube reads:
"Alexandra Drenth and Ellen van Putten, Dutch artists, are making "the largest embroidery" for a big art-event in Woerden, the Netherlands. This work should be an homage to all grandmothers, mothers and daughters of the whole world spending their time as "Quality Time". This art-event is called Woerdstock and will take place from 27th June until 7th July 2007.
"The largest embroidery" contains embroideries from the beginning of the 20th Century up till now and these works has been made by a lot of people all over the Netherlands. We were receiving embroidery by post and found lots and lots of works at the front door. The press has paid many attention to this project which we called "Experience Quality Time"."

The associated web site is here

I have a A Brief History of Embroidery Samplers on my site. I wrote the article a good few years ago and it gives an overarching history of samplers.

Linn of the Embroideress hosts a number of articles on her site Skinner Sisters in her stitch online series. There is an issue devoted to samplers but don't forget to explore the rest of the site as there is all sorts of stitching advice to be had.

On Needlework Samplers published by Dozy Rozy you will find an article on the history of samplers plus a list of sampler motifs and their meanings. The site houses lots of information about samplers and it is worth taking some time to explore it well. Theresa Venette of Shakespeare's Peddler also has an article on the meaning behind various sampler motifs. In fact there are many articles on her site as well

There is also this article on history of samplers . The Caron site has a very good article on Samplers Through the Ages by Rita Vainius. Dutch Samplers by Lucy Lyons Willis introduces readers to the tradition of Dutch needlework samplers.

Southern Decorative Needlework by Heather Palmer looks at the role needlework played in the lives of Nineteenth-century women in the southern states of America

There are a couple of sites that cover mourning or memorial samplers. Here is a brief definition from Whiteworks and the Stitchers Studio provides a longer article on them.

The Victorian and Albert Museum has a huge collection of samplers in its textile collection. Other examples of samplers held in collections are at Powerhouse and more at the National Heritage Museum. A search of the Cleveland Museum of Art textiles collection revealed this 17th century English Band sampler and another beautiful example from the same period. In fact there are many wonderful samplers on this site.

The online database of the Old Sturbridge Village site (in the Collections section found via the side bar) you will discover that they have listed 70 items in their Sampler and needlework collection. There are some great samplers. Each illustration is accompanied by a good description with thread count of the fabric noted, the stitches used to create them are listed and fiber composition stated.

There is a collection of charming samplers all embroidered by Elizabeth E. Jacobs held in the English Embroidery Collection (C.1879-82) at victoriana.com

Patterns of Childhood: Samplers 1640-1900 is an exhibition of forty samplers selected from Glasgow Museums’ collections. The site presents information about the exhibit and a slide show online.

Antique sampler dealers Stephen and Carol Huber have a collection of samplers and stumpwork on their site

Of course you can work samplers in a modern manner and many contemporary embroiderers do. For instance take a look at the images from Constance Howard’s Study Collection.

For those that are interested in contemporary samplers you may enjoy a body of work I created in 1997 about samplers and sampling. Images from the exhibition are online and as a side note those long sampler strips are 1.25 meters long ie about 50 inches and I made 7 of them for that exhibition!

I figure if you have read this far you are interested in stitching! So just a reminder that online class Sumptuous Surfaces is commencing in a couple of days. If you enjoyed this sampler you may enjoy this class. There is further information about the class on this page and you can book this class here at joggles.com

After all that the image below is a little eye candy as it is a section from one of my samplers

I did sign up and once you have passed that barrier it is a good site. It describes itself as
"This website is intended to foster the study of, and education about antique samplers in their historic as well as needlework context. The pieces displayed are held privately. Membership to view any pictures is required."
There are some interesting antique samplers there but I can't point you to any particular sampler because of their sign up process. See my annoyance? Rather than fostering an interest and promoting discussion about samplers and their interesting history, the sign up / members only policy actually stifles conversation between enthusiasts

With that off my chest don't let the site design put you off as there is great content on the site. Samplers range from pre 1700 to 1850. The samplers are well described and clearly photographed. If you click on the samplers you can view larger images and they are large enough to admire the technique and identify stitches. The site also houses a bibliography and a glossary.

Once a member you can favourite samplers and if you want to download larger versions of the sampler's images you need a Gold Level Membership. I don't want to do either of these things. I just enjoy reading about and seeing the samplers which I could do happily!

In 2001 an exhibition that explored the relationship of women and natural studies was held in Department of Special Collections at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The site housing associated images is still online.

Themes include nature writing, scientific illustration, and women's careers and training in the natural sciences. Sections that I think readers will find interesting are Elizabeth Blackwell, the daughter of an Aberdeen merchant, who eloped to London and soon found herself with a husband in prison for debt. Blackwell produced books on plants based on flowers and plants she viewed in Chelsea botanical gardens.

The other section I think readers will enjoy is the section on Illustrators as the botanical drawing is delightful.

The Illustrations of these books housed in the exhibit are well worth browsing as they form an online source for design inspiration that should not be missed by designers or anyone interested in the influences of print on textile design. The site houses larger images so you can take a really good look at the work.

So make a cuppa, settle back and enjoy!

I particularly enjoyed this modern sampler of geometric blocks and lines exploring surface and counted stitches, and this modern pulled work sampler, and this modern sampler of short lengths of different stitches. A sampler was worked in the 1930s and contains counted thread, drawn thread work, couching, needle weaving and a large variety of surface stitches. A small panel of appliquéd rag done in the 1980s still looks as if it could have been done last month. I really liked this metal thread work panel of a landscape.

There are many contemporary samplers on the site which I think people will enjoy. This sampler done in the 1960s is an interesting piece of canvas work and this piece looked as if it has been worked for TAST. I simply loved this little sample.

As I say make yourself a cuppa settle back and enjoy this collection as there is a lot there to look at and think about.

There is very little online about this type of lace. This brief definition in Art of Oya describes Oya as a knotted lace but the image featured does not match what I know as Oya. The same article suggests that another term this lace is known by is Bebilla but the lace that I have seen was not the same as the lace illustrated here. I saw Bebilla lace in the Victorian and Albert Museum and it was the same type of  Oya that Barbara and Allison have.  The lace I saw was fringed with little 3 dimensional shapes of flowers and fruit and did not lay flat, like the lace in Allison's and Barbaras collection. It may be a knotted form of the lace but when I saw it I thought it was a 3D form of needlelace.

Why do I say I think it's needle lace? Apart from seeing the samples in the V & A I have worked needle lace and know that you can work it into 3d structures. Below is an image which is part of a crazy quilt block. The little flowers have a cup into which I tucked a bead. They are three dimensional and built up using detached buttonhole stitch which is the foundation of all the variations of stitches found in needle lace.

There is more information on needlelace structures and an example of needle lace worked in a three dimensional fashion. Take a look and you will see what I mean. Here is a contemporary needle lace also worked in a 3D fashion. Finally if you go to this site, select needle lace and then click small you will see Oya being sold online. As I have said I could be wrong but I think Oya is made using a needle rather than knotting thread. I could be totally wrong. Any lace makers out there know the answer?

I suggest you grab a cuppa and if you have not already done so browse the CQMag online which was released last week. As many of you will know by now, due to Nora's illness and problems with getting a visa in a timely manner, my teaching tour to the United States has been canceled. I must admit to being very disappointed as I had hoped to meet many people who I have been in email contact with over the years. That disappointing news aside, do check out the issue as Barbara Blankenship has proposed a challenge for all Crazy Quilters. After reading Marsha Michler's reasons for hand piecing will have me hand piecing before long, and don't miss Rissa Root's article on Biscornu Basics. The whole issue is worth reading if you have not already done so.

Now on to the travel news I am still in New Zealand writing from the Christchurch City Library. You know all those picturesque postcards you see of the New Zealand south island? Well they are true. The landscape is really beautiful and more than any romantic could want. To an Australian eye after seven years of drought the first thing you notice is that the landscape is green.Green, green and more green. Seeing so much lush growth is really a rest for the soul. New Zealand is definitely scenic. I am not going to inflict scenic photographs on you however as the landscape is somehow reduced by my camera and the grandeur of the place is simply not caught.

We are staying in a backpackers hostel in Christchurch which has had some interesting moments! Everything, perhaps I exaggerate but bear with me a moment, everything here is about heights and jumping off them. People are either bungie jumping, hurling themselves out of air planes, taking hot air balloon rides, hand gliding or climbing some impossible slope and then telling tall tales about it. So it is a real pleasure to sit and have a simple non energetic cup of coffee as I feel exhausted just listening to the chatter in the communal kitchen!

What have we seen other than beautiful green scenery? Well on a trip to the Christchurch museum we discovered a small display of Maori artifacts. After being accosted by a very enthusiastic and proud museum guide we took our time to enjoy the spiral patterns expertly carved in wood. These designs are endlessly fascinating and I am sure attractive to many textile practitioners. The photograph is part of a roof support from a meeting house. It was apparently carved between 1860- 1880. The figure is Tutekawa who came to area many generations earlier.

The Christchurch museum also has an interesting exhibit of buildings and items that were from Cape Hallett Station in Antarctica. The station was in operation from 1956 to 1973 and the Museum holds some of the accommodation huts used on the station. This sounds boring but the plywood panels of the huts and buildings have been weathered in the harsh conditions to produce the most wonderful textures.

Never let it be said I strayed too far from the topic of textiles and to keep this post on topic this ivory wool winder caught my eye as well as some ivory tatting shuttles and the display of sewing equipment that accompanied them.

The museum houses a small costume collection. Some of the dresses from the 1920s are really lovely. The first photos is of a beaded dress which I am sure the beaders out there will enjoy.

The second had a design which consisted of couched ribbon which I think is an uncut chenille ribbon or tape.

As you can see the effect is very dramatic.The 'belt buckle' design was couched gold thread and beadwork. I thought readers would enjoy seeing this.

The study of Western tapestry has been booming since the 1980s. Pioneering exhibition catalogues as well as important studies disclosing tapestry collections in both the USA and Europe were published. As a result, the nineteenth-century classification of tapestry as a mere branch of the applied or decorative arts has been proven inaccurate. Art historians now fully recognize that tapestry indeed ranks among the beaux-arts or the fine arts. Studies in Western Tapestry presents a specific setting for tapestry studies. Thorough analyses of production centres, important tapestry sets, prolific tapestry designers, iconographic themes, and historical collections are published in this series. The studies focus on Western tapestry produced between c. 1400 and 1960.

Well it’s been a wonderful week and I thought it was time to pull up chair and share a cuppa so pass the biscuits and settle back. A bit of time off has been fun. It's spring here, the sun is mild and I have had some relaxing days pottering about the garden. It has needed it as it has not been touched for a long time. Actually I have not done any real work out there since I was sick earlier in the year.

Jerry who was also on leave, in the meanwhile has been in the shed turning pens. This is one he made for me.

There is a new blog on the block Au Fil du Jardin. Some readers and students will know Vero already. She plans to blog about textiles and her garden. Pop over and check it out, leave a comment and make her feel welcome.

The postman bought me lovely surprise too! Not one, not two, but three books by Linn Skinner of The Embroideress

The first I flicked open was Alphabets from a little red book . Regular readers will be aware that I am a bit of a needlework sampler freak. I just love them. If you are not a needlework sampler freak you will not understand the fascination sampler enthusiasts have for charted alphabets. They love them and I include myself in the group.
Next out of the parcel was Another 100 blackwork charts which is another total delight and many of the small motifs I can see being used in crazy quilting. Traditionalists will probably blanch at this but you can use waste canvas on crazy quilting and include small motifs that are normally worked on evenweave fabrics.

The Final book did me in. In Bands from Hans Hoffer’s pattern book Linn has charted many of the designs from a book printed in 1545. Anyone interested in historical embroidery will love this.

Unfortunately it bought on a crisis for me. I have a confession to make. I suffer from an affliction – I can not for the life of me follow a pattern. Technically I can follow a pattern but I always get a little way into a project someone else has designed and invariably have to change it. It’s like this with everything. I was one of those kids that got ‘can’t follow instructions’ written on their report card. It was not can’t but wont. I can’t follow a recipe I have to change it, add something else or substitute this ingredient for another. It has lead to some outrageous successes in the kitchen but also many failures. It’s the same with knitting patterns – I start and then decide that if I try it this way or that way it would be more ‘interesting’. Well I have made some ‘interesting’ garments as a result! Crochet is the same which is why I love freeform crochet.

Now for at least the last decade I have wanted to stitch an reproduction sampler. I have done oodles of test pieces to master various techniques but I know what will happen if I try and work one of these. Within 20% of stitching I will be redesigning it, which defeats the purpose of a reproduction some what! But with Linns books I could piece together my own sampler picking and choosing odd bands and motifs along the way. It would not be a historic sampler as such because it would have a contemporary twist to it but it might satisfy a very bad urge! Perhaps this urge will pass, but I don’t think so, particularly since I have thought of a way to do it that fits my personality… Enough said. Thanks Linn for the crisis!

Sharon waddles away dreaming about sampler sayings, alphabets and blackwork bands … shakes head and says no I have too many projects on the go … a little voice says but you LOVE samplers … shakes head again, and says to self, NO you have too much on right now … but … you love samplers the little voice whispers… stamps foot and states quite categorically no you are working too many things now … but … but… but!

As you can see I am in a reading phase!

Thanks for the link goes to Sarah of Ever Embellished

The casket is in the V&A and they have a video of Martha Edlin's Casket so that you can see it, in the round, online.

While on the V&A site also see the movie of Jacquard Weaving

In poking around a little on the history of the luddites I came across this brief article on the luddite movement which says that in the summer of 1812, some of the Lancashire protesters were transported to Australia. I wonder how they felt about the back breaking work of building a colony and how they faired after serving their sentence?

Thanks to Linn of the The Embroideress for the link

Heavy ornamentation and embellishment marks this embroidery out as being particularly special with copes and chasubles covered with religious pictorial embroidery. The materials used included gold, silver, and silk threads, pearls, precious stones, coral, and spangles the fore runner of sequins were cut with a stamp from silver. The stitches used in this type of work are illustrated half way down the page in Opus Anglicanum: English Work or how to paint with a needle and another excellent article on the technique is here

Examples of ecclesiastical embroidery date back to the 10th century but this type of embroidery reached its height between the thirteenth, and the first half of the fifteenth centuries. At this time England was famous for its ecclesiastical embroidery. From mid 1200s to mid 1300s this period of English embroidery is called Opus Anglicanum which is simply Latin for English work. This brief history from the Victorian and Albert Museum covers the key points

To see what this type of work looked like have a look at the Chasuble in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (use the zoom function) and there is another English chasuble here

The Victorian and Albert also has a beautiful cope made for Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Here is a link to another chasuble in the Victorian and Albert collection

If you are interested in the state of contemporary ecclesiastical embroidery read Judith Peacock 's article The Poor Relation.

Recently Linn of the Embroideress has been examining references to embroidery in the bible. Check out her interesting post on the translation of terms related to textiles in the bible.

You can download the file in a zip format and fashion plates are available in high resolution versions at 300 dpi.

On the same site another Victorian era fashion magazine, the July 1883 edition of The Delineator is available. This resource is also worth browsing.

These magazines are a free resource for personal use which means many of these images can be printed on fabric for use in Victorian style crazy quilts. The copyright information is available here

The other is in the collection held in the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics . If you are unaware of this resource do check it out.

La vera perfezione del disegno di Giovanni Ostaus [True Perfection in Design] (1561) contains patterns embroidery and lacemaking. (This link goes to a PDF file)

The aim is to develop an understanding of how textiles are used and decorated throughout the world

It is well worth checking out.

Embroider the World uses just a small part of the ethnic textiles collection at Bankfield Museum to explain techniques and inspire design work.

Use each page as a visual resource, look at how each technique is constructed, then pick up a needle and experiment.

I got lost for a couple of hours in the My gallery section of the site. Then started using keywords such embroidery, lace and the like.

It was my downfall as there is an option to “zoomify” which will reveal close up details that take you far closer to see any object than you would be able to get in normal circumstances. This meant I was lost for a couple hours looking at goodies in their collection.

Thanks goes to Jerry for pointing it out to me.